Scripture Reading: Matt. 18:20; 1 Cor. 12:7-8; 14:26
In this message we shall see a living in which we meet in the Spirit and by Christ. Our meeting together is a kind of living. To go to work is not a living, and to run a factory is not a living, because these things only bring in frustration, trouble, bondage, and pressure. For you young people, neither is going to school a living. What then is a living? A living is something which brings enjoyment. According to the principle in God’s creation, the human living should be a kind of enjoyment. No one would ever say that eating and drinking are a frustration, because eating and drinking are an enjoyment. The Christian meeting should be a kind of living. As such it is an enjoyment.
The Christian meeting is not a so-called worship service. The Bible does not teach us to come together to have worship services. First Corinthians 14:26 does not say that when you come together you are attending a worship service. It says, “Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm.” We saw during the last two weeks that psalms are not just for singing; they are also for speaking to one another. This kind of speaking is not a common or light way of speaking; it is a speaking by being filled in spirit, in which everyone speaks to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Eph. 5:19).
Furthermore, Colossians 3:16 says, “...teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” Here we see a teaching with psalms. Not only should we sing to one another in psalms, but we should also speak and even teach one another with psalms. Whenever we come together, everyone should have a psalm to sing, speak, and even teach one another. Thank the Lord that He has given us this hymnal. Some have told me that to sing one of the hymns in this book is better than to listen to a message. For example, Hymns, #863 was first written by me in English. Later, during one of my trips to the Far East I translated it into Chinese. I am not boasting. This hymn is too good. Let us try now to speak to one another with this hymn. I will speak to you all the first line. Then all of you will speak back to me the second line. Let me start first:
In daily walk and in our meetings too,
Christ is the center, Christ is everything;
’Tis not for form nor doctrine good and true,
But ’tis for Christ alone we’re gathering.
Christ is the way and Christ the light of life,
In Him we walk and by Him we are led;
Christ is the living water and the food;
Of Him we drink and we with Him are fed.
Christ is the truth, ’tis Him we testify,
Christ is the life, ’tis Him we minister;
Christ is the Lord, ’tis Him we magnify,
Christ is the Head, and we exalt Him here.
Christ is the All in all to God and man—
With Him both we and God are satisfied;
Christ, the reality within the church—
By Him are life and numbers multiplied.
By all the hymns and prayers we offer here,
Christ the reality we would express;
All the activities in fellowship—
Christ thus in operation manifest.
’Tis in His Name we meet, in Spirit act,
With nothing in our mind to formalize;
’Tis by His pow’r we pray, in unction praise,
And with Himself in spirit exercise.
All things forgetting, cleaving unto Christ,
Applying Him until maturity;
Let us count everything but loss for Him,
For Him, our All in all, eternally.
In the small group meetings, sometimes we can select a hymn to read or to speak to one another. This will make a good message. For example, you can use the above hymn to proclaim, “Brothers and sisters, in daily walk or in the meetings, Christ should be the center, and He should also be the content. We are not meeting here for forms or doctrines, but for Christ alone. He is the center of our meeting, and He is the content of our getting together.” This will become an enlightening message. We should all learn to take the lead in speaking in the meetings. This speaking is not a kind of teaching; it is a mutual enjoyment with others. Never forget that the meetings are a living.
According to the order in God’s creation, every man needs to sleep six to eight hours a day. In addition to this he must work or go to school. This is God’s arrangement. Do not think that when I say working and running a factory are frustrating that I am urging you not to do anything. If you do not do anything, how are you going to eat? You may say, “The Lord is taking care of my food.” No doubt the Lord is taking care of your food, but not in the way you think.
Let me share with you a testimony of my own. In 1943 I was imprisoned by the Japanese Imperial Army in Chefoo for 30 days. During that time, they used all kinds of methods to try me twice a day. After three weeks of interrogation, they realized that I was genuinely a preacher. They considered me a fool, a lunatic for God. One day they attempted to trap me. I knew that the trial was coming to a conclusion. They summoned me before them in the morning, and placed before me a Bible which I gave to them the day I was put into prison. They began by saying, “We reckon that you don’t know anything except God. To you God is everything, whether this or that. I want to ask you a question today. Which is more important, God or the country?” The “country” he was referring to was the Japanese-controlled puppet government of north China. I fully realized the meaning of his question. So I kept my mouth shut. The more he forced me to speak, the more I shut my mouth. Finally, when he insisted on an answer I said, “I am afraid that you will be angry if I give you my answer.” He pressed me further and assured me, “Speak up. I will not be angry.” To that I replied, “God is more important.” He exclaimed in a mocking way, “Very well, then. God is more important. Go back then to your cell. We will let God take care of you!” When I perceived that his tone had calmed down a bit, I began to preach to him saying, “It is true that God is more important. And it is true that God takes care of us. But God has a way to care for us. He created the earth, and He made fertile lands for cultivation. But there is still the need for man to plow and sow before there can be a harvest. Even after the harvest, there is still the need for reaping, selling, and buying. You may say that all these are human labor. But without God’s creation of the earth, and without Him supplying the sunshine, the rain, the wind, and the air, the crop cannot grow. So, you see, everything still depends on God. God is the One who supplies our food; He does take care of us that way.” He said, “Fine. You do not know anything except God. We will let God feed you tonight.”
I was put in the same cell as a Greek young man. He was a Greek Orthodox Christian, and spoke a little English. We began to fellowship with each other. When he found out that I was suffering for the name of Christ, he began to respect me very much. When the guards walked past us, we broke our conversation and were quiet. But once they walked away, we continued with our fellowship. In the prison the Chinese prisoners were apportioned hard dough, while this Greek brother was given white bread and milk. That evening when the guard came around to pass the bread and milk to that young man, he smiled at me and pointed his fingers upward, saying, “Yours, there.” He left without any food for me. The Greek man wondered. He said, “What is happening? Are they not going to give you food today?” I told him what had happened that day during the trial. He responded by saying, “Mr. Lee, I will let you have my share today. You are suffering for Jesus Christ. It is my honor to give up my food for you.” I insisted that he keep the food. After pushing the food back and forth between him and me for a while, we agreed that we would share the food together. The next morning the guards took me out of my cell again. The minute they walked in they asked in a mocking way, “Did your God feed you last night?” I said, “Yes, He did.”
We can all testify that God takes care of us. But on our part we need to fulfill our duty. We all must work, but work is not our living; it is our laboring. After man fell, God ordained that man must labor and sweat and that woman must undergo the suffering of childbirth.